Sunday, March 1, 2015

At first glance you might mistake our Little Miss Tessa as a cat. And if you thought that, I wouldn't blame you one bit for she outwardly looks like a cat. But.. let me reassure you she is in fact, NOT a cat, she is a goat and considered public enemy #1 in our house when it comes to my houseplants, specifically my orchids and African violets.

Doubt me? Let me give you some proof that she's a goat.

See.. I told you so.

Now it's safe to say that I was NOT a happy girl when I found out that Tessa decided to start noshing on my orchids. And for a few weeks I did everything in my power to her keep out of the plants, i.e. spray bottles, clapping my hands at her, having the boys chase her, you name it, I tried it and Tessa was not having any of it. She'd stop temporarily and then return when we weren't around.

Apparently the goat gene runs heavy in her veins.

Nothing was working until the day I brought home a plastic container of organic wheatgrass to add to my juices in the morning.

From the moment I walked into the kitchen with it still in my grocery bag you would've thought Tessa hit the lottery. Literally she went cat loony.

I tried for a few days to keep her out of yet another plant of mine, eventually even keeping the wheatgrass under a cloche so she couldn't sink those chompers of hers into it, when finally I noticed that she'd stopped eating my houseplants in preference to the wheatgrass.

Score!Off went the cloche! In fact, I grabbed an unused planter, plopped the wheatgrass in some dirt and trust me when I tell you, that cat went after the grass like a lion after a gazelle.

At this point we're not thinking she's normal. Somewhere in the body of hers, she is most definitely carrying around some goat DNA.

After about 3 weeks of me buying wheatgrass for said goat-kitty, which can add up rather quickly, I figured since I'm already planting a bunch of seeds for the garden why not reseed the areas of the planter she's already eaten? Sounded good to me but then again, as a newbie gardener, I don't know if it'll work until it doesn't. To be honest I wasn't quite sure the seeds would germinate in our poorly lit kitchen area. And if they did sprout would they hold up to Tessa walking all over them. ( She has a weird knack of climbing into the planter and sitting on top while noshing on the grass that sticks out around her - she's weird, I know!) But so far, so good! The seeds are surviving her abuse and sprouting very quickly.

Now I have to say as a new gardener, this brought me a jolt of joy when I first spied the seedlings sprouting.Funny how life can be that way sometimes. You have an idea, you put it into motion and hope and pray it works and then when you have that first glimpse of progress, wham! Pure joy!That's where I'm at with this wheatgrass. Because it would seem that Tessa the goat-kitty enjoys having her own "garden" enough to keep those fangs of hers off of my orchids and violets, which makes me very, very happy.So while this particular gardening success is small in the scheme of things, to me, it's a huge win-win. The goat-kitty is happy with her own patch of grass and I am so very happy that my houseplants no longer shake in fear when she walks by!Therefore there is once again, peace and harmony in a our little suburban garden.Until next week,Blessings & best wishes,Amy